What does it mean to be a superhero?
Is it a well-known one-piece uniform? Public recognition? Or is it more about what you’re willing to do to help those around you? We all know about Superman and Batman, but are superheroes only born from the pages of comic books?
Jacob Latimore plays Bo in the upcoming film Sleight. Although the movie has sci-fi elements, it’s not a superhero movie – at least not in the traditional sense. But I would argue that he is a modern-day superhero in his own undeniable way.
Bo is a smart street magician in the film. His parents aren’t around, so he looks after his younger sister, Tina (played by Storm Reid). They struggle to get by, and Bo has to step up and perform in order to help them live as normal of a life as possible. In the film, we see Bo in a position where he doesn’t see other options than to sell drugs in addition to his magic, including coke, weed, ecstasy and more, to support him and his sister.
As he continues to go down this path, he gets caught up with a rival drug dealer after the dealer he works for pushes him to. He soon realizes that he’s in over his head, putting himself and his sister in danger. It escalates quickly, and Bo is left scrambling to find a solution that will keep his sister, his number one motivation, safe.
Along with the support of some key influences in his life, Bo has to ask himself how far he’s willing to go to protect what matters most.
And that’s where this film shifts from an action/adventure movie to something of superhero status.
Sleight is, in a way, an origin story.
Origin stories aren’t reserved solely for superheroes but are often associated with them. That’s how we find out why Peter Parker can swing from building to building like a spider and even why Deadpool looks and acts the way he does.
Sleight accomplishes the same thing by telling the tale of someone who has faced great adversity and watching him as he takes those hardships and motivates himself to find a way out. We see our protagonist establish individual, defining characteristics and we root for him to go above and beyond to take care of Tina, who is vulnerable and can’t take care of herself.
The “magic” Bo performs while making money on the street for his family is introduced as a means to get by financially in the beginning of this film, but when faced with his newfound enemies, we see him take that practice and escalate it to the next level — as his one tool for staying safe and, essentially, defeating the villain.
What Sleight addresses is a very important question: How far are you willing to go for who or what you love?
Is a superhero someone who steps up when they have no other options but to accept defeat? Are they an advocate for those who can’t defend themselves? Do superheroes defy logic to accomplish what others would deem impossible? I would argue the answer to all those questions is a resounding "yes." We can see it in our classic superhero stories, and we can see it in Sleight.
What Bo is willing to do for who he loves puts him at superhero status. Even without the cape and ability to fly, be invisible or read minds, he creates his own superpower through sheer will.
And really, isn’t that what defines a superhero? It’s the determination to go through extraordinary measures to accomplish a goal, to step up when it would be much easier to give up, and to take responsibility when others would run scared.
Catch Sleight in theaters nationwide April 28th.
This post is brought to you by Sleight.
